‘No-Brainer for Anyone Who Actually Cares About American Democracy’: House Democrats’ HR 1 Praised as Real Plan to Drain the Swamp

“It’s time to unrig our broken political system. Our political leaders have been most responsive to the interests of their wealthy donors for too long while the needs of normal Americans go unaddressed.”

“Everything in H.R. 1 is a no-brainer for anyone who actually cares about American democracy,” Morris Pearl, chair of the Patriotic Millionaires, said in a statement applauding the new legislation.

“It’s time to unrig our broken political system,” Pearl continued. “Our political leaders have been most responsive to the interests of their wealthy donors for too long while the needs of normal Americans go unaddressed. Before we can fix any of our other issues we need to put power back into the hands of the people, and H.R. 1 is an important, necessary first step to getting there.”

Progressive groups echoed Pearl’s praise for H.R. 1, describing the plan as an urgent and necessary solution to the corruption that has distorted America’s democratic process for decades.

House Democrats’ first bill #HR1 will address voting rights and campaign finance and underline the oversight powers and diversity of the new House. These shouldn’t be partisan issues. Let’s get it done. #HouseWarming2019https://t.co/idfK6NJiAP

In an op-ed for The Hill on Thursday, Sarbanes and Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) laid outthe three central components of H.R. 1:

First, we will rein in the influence of big money in our politics. That means bringing more transparency to our campaign finance system and empowering everyday Americans with a powerful new system that rewards and amplifies small donors.

Second, we will make sure that public servants actually serve the public, not use their office for personal gain. That means strengthening ethics across all three branches of government, ending the revolving door in Washington and reining in lobbyists.

Third, we will protect every citizen’s right to vote. That means promoting national automatic voter registration, expanding early and absentee voting, building the case to restore the Voting Rights Act, ending voter roll purging, safeguarding our election infrastructure from foreign attackers and cracking down on partisan gerrymandering.

As Sarah Jones of New York Magazinepointed out on Thursday, a chief benefit of H.R. 1 is that it goes beyond addressing the widespread and open corruption of the Trump White House and strikes at more systemic issues that far predate the billionaire real estate mogul president.

“H.R. 1 isn’t just about Trump, or the well-established discrepancy between his campaign rhetoric and his actions as president,” Jones wrote. “For Democrats, the bill is also an exercise in identity formation, a way to preview a corruption message that goes beyond superficial anti-Trumpism by incorporating a real critique of power in Washington.”

If passed, H.R. 1 would form a matching system in which eligible congressional and presidential candidates would receive $6 in public funds for every $1 raised from small donations. Such as system, argued Jones, would have a transformative impact on the way political campaigns operate.

“Public financing for elections would make candidates less reliant on major donors and corporate money, a problem that did not originate with Trump’s fateful campaign announcement,” Jones argued.

Lee Drutman, a senior fellow at New America, agreed with this assessment, writing for Vox, “Anything that takes members of Congress away from the gamut of lobbyist-sponsored fundraisers and cold-calling wealthy people and puts them in the living rooms of more representative groups of constituents would be a major game-changer for the kinds of concerns that filter up to lawmakers as top priorities.”

Pearl of Patriotic Millionaires concluded that H.R. 1 offers necessary and bold solutions to a system that has been held captive by those with the deepest pockets.

“It not only works to remove dark money from our political system to ensure every American has the same political power as millionaires like me, it also strengthens our democracy by making it easier to vote, limiting gerrymandering, and cracking down on corruption,” Pearl said.

About ew

ew came of age during the winddown to the Vietnam War, and like many other Americans, as soon there wasn't an issue that didn't affect him personally, he became indifferent. This gradually changed during the Reagan and Bush I years, continued through the Clinton years and finally came to a head with the passage of the Patriot Act in 2001. He works as a freelance consultant/tester for various music hardware and software companies, and lives in Minnesota with his cat and other weird and wonderful noise machines.